Civilization 6 is now available on the iPad. It's not just a crummy port, either. It's the entire, full, complete Civ 6 experience. The port was handled by Aspyr Media, the same company to bring over KotoR 1/2 for mobile.

What's the catch? Well, it's not really a catch, but the game is the full price. Yep, the game is $60 on iPad, and must be played on an iOS 11 capable device. The recommendations are any iPad 2017 version, iPad Air 2, and any iPad Pro model. You'll also need just over 3 gigs of space on your iPad.

I have an iPad Pro 12.9" model from 2016, and Civ 6 runs smooth as butter. I can confirm that the entire game is there including all 20 civilization leaders, all diplomatic relationship options, etc. It's all there.

I have logged in and played Animal Crossing Pocket Camp every day since it launched, and for all intents and purposes it’s a fun experience on a mobile device, but I’m left with a few grumbly gripes.

Remarkably none of them have anything to do with microtransactions or the game being free to play. I haven’t felt pressured into spending a dime. They’re overly generous with leaf tickets, and I can make anything I want with what feels like plenty of bells.

Gripe #1: Camp size

I need more space to decorate. As of right now, I feel like I’m unable to create anything that remotely resembles a ‘put together’ setup because I don’t have the space to fit a fraction of the things I’ve crafted. Compared to previous Animal Crossings, I feel like I might have 1/5th the space. Unless I’m missing something, I can’t even pay to increase my camp size — And I would HAPPILY do so.

Gripe #2: Room to move around

Just when I think I’ve squeezed in something that looks good, I realize my character can’t actually fit. In takes 2 squares for my guy to waddle his way through the camp, and even though there’s plenty of room visually (1 square) it won’t let him through.

Gripe #3: Interacting with pals in your camp sucks

I’d almost rather not invite people into my camp because once they’re there it becomes 2-3x more work to talk to them, and I feel like they offer less benefit in the camp than they do in the wild. Granted, having your pals in your camp means more people to fill the other areas which obviously nets more, but once they’re in your camp they feel like dead weight taking up valuable space.

I’d also like to have these animals leave and have their own camps. Instead, they’re all in mine and I never get to visit theirs. It feels like I’m running a daycare for a bunch of psychos who want to do nothing but eat, sleep in my bed, and beg for things.

Gripe #4: People aren’t checking their friend help requests

I’ve sent out a dozen requests for help for the past 3 days, and every day I don’t get enough of them wanting to help me go to the quarry. Literally as I write this 4 out of the 14 friends on my list have offered to help. If I don’t get another person to help, I’m screwed out of another day in the quarry. Grumble.

Grip #5: Limited space to roam

This should probably be right up under camp size for me because it’s the second biggest issue. I really feel like the disconnected areas make the game feel way too shallow. A simple open map like every other animal crossing game could have been achieved while maintaining the “camp” feel. Imagine Stardew Valley without the main city, but instead you just warped from your farm to the mine, warped to the dock, warped to a store. It would lose that ‘I’m in a world’ feeling, and a lot of that magic would be lost. Part of the fun is what you do getting from point A to point B. Pocket Camp lacks that experience.

I’m looking for an Android emulator to play some of the mobile games I’d normally play on my iPhone but on a PC instead. I hear Android emulators work pretty well, and that there’s not a lot of legal issues with using one. Truth to that, anyone?

I saw a lot of Twitch Streamers recently playing that new Lineage game on their PC which is what me down this road of thinking that I might be able to play games like Animal Crossing Pocket Edition on my PC since it uses a Nintendo Account to save progress.

Anyone have experience and want to weigh in?

Can you play games multiplayer?

Anyone successfully played a game on PC that they also played on a handheld and had their progress transfer over seamlessly? (I’m thinking it would have to be a game with a third-party account system since I’m an iOS user and not Android)

How are microtransactions handled? Is it tied to something like a Google Play account?

And lastly, what emulator do you guys use? I keep seeing Bluestacks as the one people recommend, but I’m open to suggestions. Thanks!

Animal Crossing Pocket Camp is out for iOS and Android today — well, technically yesterday. For some reason it came out a day early.

I have already been asked by friends and family, “what is Animal Crossing?” I guess it’s harder to explain than I thought because I didn’t have a really good answer to give right away. Contemplating the series, I came up with the following. Animal Crossing is about three things: Collecting, decorating (or expressing yourself), and real-time open-ended gameplay.

In all of the games, you’re a human character who has come to a town (or in this case a camp) as the new resident. You get your own house (or camp site) to decorate and call home, and then spend your time building relationships with the other residents who are all anthropomorphic animal people.

The game ultimately boils down to collecting, fishing, or catching things to trade, sell (for Bells, the in-game currency), and give to NPCs. You use those bells, and in this case items you get for trading to other creatures, to make items or buy items you’ll use to decorate your camp. Decorating is a big component of the game, so if you’re anti-Sims and can’t stand the idea of putting up fences, laying carpets, setting up a couch, tweaking that lamp so it looks just right… then this is most definitely not the game for you.

A big part of Animal Crossing for me has always been accumulating wealth. I like to fish, shake trees for fruit, catch rare bugs, and ultimately become uber wealthy and have everything.

For the first time, Animal Crossing is free and works microtransactions into the game. It also introduces a non-contiguous world, whereas the game has typically been about running around to visit all of your neighbors in more of a Star Dew Valley type setting.

I don’t love driving (clicking a spot on a map and loading into that small location) as much as I like the open areas of past games. I’m also not a fan of how small the little areas feel to me. I like the “world” or playable area being a bit larger, and in Pocket Camp it’s just not.

Microtransactions are right at home in Animal Crossing due to its real-time gameplay. There has always been a real time element in Animal Crossing because of its use of the system clock, so naturally making you wait for things or lettting you spend “Leaf Tickets” to speed things up just makes sense. I don’t love it, but I would expect nothing less from Tom Nook.

I’m playing on my iPhone X, and the game is gorgeous looking and already very optimized for the device. I played for about an hour straight and my battery did not make any noticeable dip.

In general, it’s all still too early to say just how nefarious the microtransactions are in the game. Clearly we know they’ll stand in your way of having everything, but to what degree I don’t know. I’ll post an update if I become disenchanted with the whole process.